


For the Very Young at Heart

by Missy



Category: Princess and the Frog (2009)
Genre: 1920s, Community: polybigbang, Flappers, Friends to Lovers, Honeymoon, Humor, Multi, Paris (City), Rebellion, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-13
Updated: 2013-11-13
Packaged: 2018-01-01 08:54:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1042896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tiana and Naveen's honeymoon is interrupted by Lottie, whose bubbly nature soon becomes more essential to their romance than either had ever envisioned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For the Very Young at Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Written for PolyBigBang in '13! Thank you to [Yue](http://yue-ix.parakaproductions.com/) for creating art for this piece!

If you were young and living abroad in the nineteen twenties there was no better world to inhabit than France. The streets of Paris were smutty with hope in April of ‘28, and alive with the swinging sound of brassy jazz bands. Golden adornments glittered from marble facefronts, and storefronts windows were filled with stylish but incredibly short dresses garnished with lovely cloche hats ‘a la mode’ and petite handbags. Shoes were buckled, the heels small, arranged like whining dogs at the pedestal of the dummy displays and on the skinny, rouged knees of their chorus girl owners.

The people of the republic were themselves neatly-combed and pressed, smelling faintly of bay rum and bromide, of teaberry gum and Brillitine. Their hair hung in short, smart bobs that were occasionally done up in waves, curls that bounded in the perpetual motion of the wearer. Thy lurched from teas to cafes to museums, to la maison for sleep, then up for breakfast by the Seine, all buoyed by a river of neat whiskies or gin fizzes. They chattered endlessly about Lindberg’s flight or Gloria Swanson’s new picture or the rules for the black bottom, dragging their tired bodies in the afternoon and gibbering gaily in the alleyways until, high on champagne, they would gambol through the nighttime streets with their hats tucked neatly about their ears, knees jarring akimbo in their drunken striding.

They ended up sprawled on the mattresses of flop houses, smelling of sweat and the sheen of stupidity, parfum du naivety. It was a generation soon to be deemed a lost one, one that would die by the thousand of malnutrition or suicide in ten years; thousands more would meet their fate in Poland or strewn across the cold forest floors of Europe in six years more. But for now they were the brightest generation, the gayest one, and the most liberal in history. 

This was the world Tiana discovered upon disembarking from the ocean liner that took her to her honeymoon. 

She and Naveen had stopped at Naveen’s home country briefly; his parents didn’t believe that it was healthy for a young couple to spend so much time with their inlaws and had gently shooed them back across the ocean after a month. But not after they had stuffed the two of them full of pink cakes overloaded with white glace icing and sent them about on the typical rounds of newlywed publicity engagements: they paused to smile before so many statues that Tiana’s cheeks still ached fiercely. And then there were the ribbon cuttings and the public engagements, and for the outspoken young princess a new lesson in diplomacy as she was called before the kingdom’s press and was forced to describe her personal style, favorite dishes to cook, her hope for children, their plans for the new restaurant in New Orleans and Tiana’s parents. Speaking about her father wasn’t easy at all, but Tiana managed to do it with great eloquence; she wore his purple heart with great pride to every meeting with the press. Her mother in law gave her high marks for her poise in all of this, but her natural sauciness had pleased her inquisitors so much that she soon became the country’s darling.

Cooking became a happy, peaceful refuge for Tiana at that point, one Naveen seemed happy to share in – well, at least he was happy to stick his finger in her lemon meringue pie while she frosted it with whipped egg whites. Even this the press found charming, and the recipe graced the back of every condensed milk can in the state by the end of their journey. 

Laden with the tears of others and heavier feeling of their own, Tiana and Naveen boarded the Katherine Leanna at the end of August for the final leg of their journey – a trip through Paris that would last a month and finally end with them both being deposited upon American soil. 

The ensuing ocean voyage had been cozy but too brief; Tiana and Naveen had only one place to canoodle in perfect privacy, so they often curled up together in their cabin with the occasional interruption from room service and a bodyguard or two. Both were well aware that the conception of a royal heir was of the upmost importance, but producing that child still wasn’t quite the most important thing on Tiana’s mind. Her head was back in New Orleans, her mind latched onto the 

And here they were, disembarking onto the golden shores of Paris, her eyes darting from billboard to apple cart, her feet careful as they trod over the freshly-paved streets. It was a cheery, sweet-smelling and well-appointed city – Tiana tried to remember every twist and turn in the bend of the road as their luggage was loaded into the back of a white roadster. Then she and Naveen were speeding away toward the relative safety of the hotel, earning the occasional raised eyebrow and muffled comment from the passing citizenry.

Naveen playfully nudged her, which earned him a playful but quite firm elbow to his own side. “Well, what do you think? Slick, no?”

“It’s beautiful,” Tiana observed, tucking her hair back under the brim of her dramatic white fedora. “But sugar, I’m ready to get back to New Orleans.”

“Are you sick of seeing the world already?” he chuckled. “Didn’t you say you would…”

“Loosen up and smell the roses?” she grinned at him saucily. “We’ve been gone for a whole month. If I don’t get back soon, Lottie’s gonna take over the Mill before I get to pick out my own curtains!”

Naveen considered the idea with all of the solemnity it was due – which meant he wiggled his eyebrows at her and slung a friendly arm around her neck. “It’s nothing we can’t undo.”

“No, you don’t understand.” Tia bear-wrestled his arm from around her neck. “Lottie has swell taste. So good that whatever she picks will make me think twice about what I already chose.”

“Eh, so? Then I’ll buy her her own restaurant,” he smirked.

Tiana rolled her eyes. “You know her daddy could get her one of those if she wanted to own one. It’s just Lottie being Lottie! You don’t know her well yet; let me clue you in; she loves to help out whenever and wherever she can, but sometimes she gets a little crazy about it.”

“I figured that out when she got the two of us together,” he smiled. “She seems very…” he trailed off, dangled his fingers, deliberately letting the word dangle in the air. 

Tiana socked his shoulder lightly. “Very much like my best friend,” she replied lightly. “She did give up her chance at marrying a prince to save our hides.” The car pulled to a stop and she fairly leapt out, prepared to fully experience the glory of the hotel’s wonder fully sculpted architecture.

She wasn’t disappointed. Between the rich marble interior and the gorgeous polished wooden floors, Tiana found herself swept into the lap of luxury as she Naveen glad-handled their way toward the top floor and the suite to which they’d been assigned.

Once ensconced in its plush environs, Tiana threw herself onto the bed with a happy sigh. “Now this is the life.” She popped open an eye, saw Naveen’s hungry look, and then gave him a lazy smile. “You’re not gonna get no satisfaction standing all the way over there.”

He smiled. “I’m simply…admiring the picture you make?”

“All sweaty from five days on the high sea?” She rubbed herself against the pillow. “You’ve gotta be into pirates.”

“No, Tia. Beautiful girls,” he replied lightly, “are far more interesting than pirates.”

She laughed. “Stop walking the plank and come over here!”

Naveen approached her, but at that very moment the phone began to ring. “Mph,” Tiana mumbled into his lips, tangling her fingers in his hair. “Tune it out,” she demanded. 

“Trying,” he said, unable to reclaim his tongue. But the phone rang endlessly, rhythmically, and no romantic inclination could force Tiana to ignore its chiming.

With a groan, she released Naveen’s head and reached for the receiver. “Hello?”

In the earpiece was Lottie. “Sugar! You won’t believe it, why, you simply won’t! I barely believe it and I’m living through it!”

“Lottie, honey…Lottie? Sugar?” A disappointed groan came from her cleavage and Tiana playfully pressed Naveen’s chin into her ribs. “Take a deep breath and tell me what happened. Slowly.” She cringed as Naveen gently headbutted her. “Not too slowly.”

“I’m in Paris!” Lottie’ s high-pitched screech made Tiana’s hair stand on end. “Oooh, it’s gonna be a downright dream! We can go shopping at those fancy ol’ coture shops, and we can play with some poodles, and then we can eat baguettes by the Eiffel tower! We’re gonna have the best time ever!”

“Lottie!” cried Tiana, trying to restore order. “I’m on my honeymoon, and Naveen and I are busy.” Naveen’s clever fingers pinched her. “Very busy,” she added throatily. 

“Oh, that’s no trouble, honey! We can all have fun together when y’all aren’t busy doing what you’re doing! We could go to one of those cute little clubs by the river, and then we could have supper while the sun sets and then we can…”

“And then,” Naveen suggested coolly, “she can have fun with some of your other friends.”

“Is that Naveen?” wondered Lottie, which earned Naveen an impatient tug upon his elbow – there were better way to keep his mouth occupied. “Are y’all…busy?” This whispered conspiratorially. 

“Something like that,” observed Tiana.

“Oh! I’ll just…call back…soon?” sputtered Lottie.

The words were tiny and formed with such reluctance that Tiana felt a guilty sting of pain as she considered the weight of her anger on Lottie’s slim shoulders. “Why don’t you call back in a few hours? There’s a big, beautiful café on Lafayette Street. We’ll have a big ol’ lunch there, all right?”

“Okay!” perked Lottie quickly. “I’ll be there with bells on, darlin’! The biggest bells in town!”

Tiana smirked against the receiver as Lottie hung up, but as she turns her head she locked gazes with Naveen. 

“This isn’t what I meant by a relaxing honeymoon, cherie,” he replied, dryly.

Tiana grinned back, nudging him onto his back with a toss of her arms and legs. “I thought you weren’t thinking about relaxing.” Her hand dove down into the warmth of his lap and tried what she found with freshly-won familiarity. “In fact, I think somebody else wants my attention…”

His brilliant smile wobbled for a moment, and instantly Tiana’s grin turned seraphic, nearly innocent. “Three hours?” he wondered. 

“Three hours,” she repeated. 

Their bodies tangled into a familiar pile of warm, stroking limbs, and in them Tiana found herself relaxing for the first time in months. When she was with Naveen everything felt new and enchanting and different. She was delighted and warmed by his presence in ways she’d never expected to be, hadn’t dreamed of feeling in her few lonely years on the planet working triple shifts to buy the Mill. When he pulled her into his arms and laughed as they tumbled across the mattress Tiana laughed too, a sweet lightness filling the very heart of her.

And yet there was a nagging need deep in her belly – an inexplicable one that Tiana could not think away with her practical mind.

She resisted sleep when they finished, pulling herself out of Naveen’s arms for a bath and a change of clothes. Once Tia had enough time to take a peaceful walk she would be able to pull herself together and start thinking about what to tell her best friend about her plans for a joint vacation.

Naveen kissed the tips of Tiana’s fingers before she slipped out the door to meet up with Lottie. “Tonight,” he said, “we’ll swing with the Duke and Miss Baker.”

She kissed his dimple. “Tie your dancing shoes on tighter than tight, honey,” she grinned. “I don’t intend to step slow.”

He watched her sway her way to the bathroom and grinned, exhaling a low, soft whistle. He had a fine woman, and he aimed to keep her, whole and very happy.

*** 

Unfortunately, solitude eluded Tiana as utterly as peace of mind had. Royal Princesses don’t go out into the world without their royal guards – so Zane, the royal advisor and majordomo said - and Tiana realized that she required an entire retainer just for the short jaunt to the cafe; a man to hold her parasol, and another to polish her shoes, a third to drive, and the fourth to guard her slim body from any enemies or foreign bodies. By the time she wound through the narrow streets of Paris and down to the Dolce Café, she’s been mopped and pulled and dragged across the street by her oversized companions more times than she could count.

Tiana dropped wearily into her chair, only to be scooped up into her best friend’s fluffy embrace the moment she settled in. “Oh, Tia, you look simply WONDERFUL!” squealed Lottie. “That dress is gorgeous, and your hat’s just to die for!”

Tiana’s simple, chic dress had been bought from a designer from her husband’s native land; it was a lovely tea dress, pale green in color, with large white roses dappled over the design. She held a tiny white bag in her palm, partnering it all with an extravagant cloche hat and smart, squat-heeled shoes. She took a look over her shoulder, noted the mob of hovering servants, and gestured in futile desperation. “Go on, now, I’m fine –scat!”

The men scattered reluctantly, and Tiana bade Lottie quickly not to ask why there were so many of them. “Tell me something new, sugar,” she teased. “How’re you doing? Did you like the boat trip over?” She didn’t bother to ask Lottie why she decided to appear in Paris out of the blue, and what her purpose there was – likely she felt lonely and harassed, and likely she wanted a break that would be both stimulating and educational. Tiana knew her very well, and she didn’t need to probe. 

“Kinda rocky,” she admitted. “But the sea was so beautiful and big, and I met a doctor on the ship and we took a little moonlight walk around the deck. He was just CHARMING,” she burbled. “And I bought you a little treat!” she pulled a bo’sun whistle out of her pink clutch purse and dropped it upon the table between them. “They had them for sale in the gift shop! Aren’t they the cutest things?” 

Tiana eyed the object as Lottie enthusiastically handed it over. She could imagine the girl blowing the hunk of tin with wild enthusiasm and privately shuddered at the amount of noise it should make. “Why do they carry around whistles?”

“Well, the captain said they’re for those foggy night where you can’t see your hand in front of your face. You’re supposed to blow on your lil’ ol whistle, and then listen ‘til you hear someone else blowing on theirs. That’s how you know you’re all nice and safe and cozy….unless you’re drowning,” she smiled. “Isn’t that downright sweet?”

“Only if you’re not the one who’s not drowning,” Tiana said. Her fingers traced the thick rope cord of the whistle. The question haunted her, forcing itself finally from her lips, pre-determined answer or not. “Honey, you never did say why you showed up here today.”

Brightly and quickly, Lottie said, “Oh, things were getting little boring down home! Daddy said I could take a year in Europe, and he got so excited when I told him there are all sorts of princes running around all over Europe! I bet the streets here are just flowing with ‘em! Why you must have bumped into a hundred just on the boat over.”

Tiana sighed against the lip of her mug. “You met all of Naveen’s family at the wedding, and they’re the only royal folks I’ve met since we shoved off from New Orleans.” She picked up a thick pastry and took a bite, judging the flavor and weight of the crumb on her tongue. It was good, but not rich and sinfully sweet as something she’d buy down at the Quarter. No wonder why. The French believed in excess in moderation – in pretending themselves holy during churchy Sunday afternoons after long Saturday nights filled with parties and liquor. Louisianans seemed to believe in excess without restraint, and they didn’t have the piety to pretend that their previous actions didn’t imprint upon their current activities. Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday could coexist without hypocrisy in her mind.

“Ohh,” sighed a rather dejected Lottie. It sounded as if someone had taken a pin to her fantasies and cruelly pierced them, and the wind in her sails leaked out in a disappointed whine. Tiana reached for her with a powdered-sugar dotted hand and gave it a squeeze. 

“I’m sure you’ll find a fella of your own if you keep looking, honey.” Tiana actually did believe that notion, and believe it with all of her heart. Lottie was a beautiful, big-hearted girl, and for all of her showy, fast-talking, slightly-spoiled ways she could be fun-loving. In fact, Tia was shocked that Lottie hadn’t been swept up yet – her accomplishments nearly required some sort of sweeping answer that hadn’t been made.

Lottie grinned and wove her fan before her face. “Awww, bless your heart, honey,” she drawled playfully. “But you don’t have to worry about that little old thing anymore.” Lottie snapped the an closed and then wondered, “what’s it like being a Princess?” She clapped her hands and leaned in eagerly. “Tell me tell me tell me?”

Tiana grinned. “Well,” she began, “I don’t feel any different.” She didn’t really. In fact, as fun as lolling about in the lap of satin-coated luxury could be, Tiana still yearned for the industrious world she’d temporarily abandoned for this vacation. “In fact, you could say I feel just like myself – the wrappings are just a little bit different, that’s all.”

Lottie sipped her coffee and then tossed Tiana a wide grin. “They are purty wrappings, Tia.”

“Aww, these little old things?” she said, deliberately exaggerating her drawl to a ludicrous note. “You already told me how nice I looked in it.” She reached for the brass server filled with sugar cubes and picked up the miniscule tongs that came with it before plopping two white cubes into her steaming cup of fresh-press. “Any more’d be a crime of flattery.”

“There ain’t no such thing, honey!” chuckled Lottie happily. She sipped the coffee and then let out a giggle. “Oooh! Why don’t we go to that lil’ ol flicker down at the end of the block? Then we can window-shop and then we can pick up Naveen and the three of us can head out to that little supper club…”

Tiana held up a supplicating hand. “Hold on, hold on!” she piped. “I told Naveen I’d be back at the hotel in a couple of hours….”

“Then I’ll go with you!” smiled Lottie. “We’ll go on out to the movies and the club together, just like I suggested. It’ll be the best time you’ve ever had, I promise!”

In spite of the strength of their friendship – and in spite of the fact that Tiana loved Lottie deeply – she knew she needed to put her foot down. Why was it so easy for her to do that with anyone but Lottie? “We were planning on spending a little time ALONE, honey. Just me and Naveen. After spending so much time with his family and all of those crazy camera people and all the time it took us to get to France, I really wanna take a little time and….” Tiana trailed off and prayed to Saint Jude that Lottie would pick up her drift.

“Huh?” Lottie chomped one of the pastries down, and then titled her head. “Well, fiddlesticks! Why wouldn’t you want me to sit around the hotel with you? Unless…” Her eyes widened dramatically and a squeak slipped from her lips. “Oh!” a bright red flush spread across Lottie’s cheeks, and she started to fan herself with her smart pocketbook. “Oh my….” Then her eyes darted back and forth. “Mercy’s sake, no one warned me how hot it gets here. When did France turn into a little old oven?” she complained. “You could wash your socks in my shoes!” She started nervously consuming cookies and cakes and tiny tartlets, smearing her lipstick across the back of her coffee mug as she tried to ramble away her embarrassment. 

Tiana cringed at poor Lottie’s nerves. It was nothing to be embarrassed about, in her opinion. “It’s all right. Every married couple does it.”

“Aww, heck, I know that!” protested Lottie. “It’s just…thinking of you and Naveen. That GORGEOUS Naveen…” Tiana tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, daring Lottie to continue. “Well, it’s different when it’s your best friend,” she said, waving away an arriving waiter. “Oh no, I couldn’t have another bit, honey! My girdle’s about to pop!”

“Maybe we should go out for that walk,” suggested Tiana blithely. “All the better to sweat off a few pounds.”

Lottie shot energetically to her feet, happily looping her arm around Tiana’s neck. “We’ll take a nice long walk through the garden!” she burbled enthusiastically, and pulled Tia away from the table, her teacup still clutched between her fingers, and ditching the lurking, sneaky-souled advisors, all of whom had paid witness to their embarrassing but quite happy teatime.

**** 

Time with Lottie seemed to slip away far too quickly to Tia’s liking. A walk through a beautifully-maintained rose garden in a public park turned into a jog, and the jog required a rest. What better place to rest than a darkened movie theatre showing the latest Mae Marsh picture? Though neither of them knew anything about the French language – much to Tia’s surprise and Lottie’s consternation – they struggled their way through the movie. By the time Mae’s adultery had been discovered and her wicked ways exposed, they were ready to meet Tia’s driver and head back to the hotel.

She received many a mild scolding from the driver as they motored up to the glittering façade, but Tia nodded at their suggestions, and when they kept on rolling on she tuned them out; she’d come too far to allow them to hold sway over her opinions. Mentally, she tucked them away and concentrated in on Lottie’s enthusiasm; she couldn’t quite get over the power inherent in seeing a ‘real movie’ in a ‘real French theatre’. When the car came to a halt and they tumbled out, it was to directly meet with Naveen, who had been holding court with a bunch of newspapermen who had been tailing them across the city searching for some sort of happy story about the newly-wed royal couple. But they melted away into the background when his eyed locked onto Tia. She grinned, her returning look seasoned with too much fondness, too much knowledge of what it was like to be in his arms in the midnight hour. 

“And here’ my lovely bride.” Tiana grinned, gliding toward him, and his hand slid across her dress-enclosed hips on their way to cupping her waist. Naveen’s grin was positively toothy, and Tiana claimed a brief revenge by digging her nails lightly into his flanks, treasuring his wiggling brows. They smiled for the blinding flashes of light, and in the very corner of her spot-dotted vision, Tia could see Lottie grinning, bouncing, overjoyed by her best friend’s success and obvious joy. 

Once the press were shoed away, Naveen took her by the hand and then led her over to Lottie. “Shall we paint the town, ladies?”

“But your Excellency…” called Zane – a short, dark-eyed, obsequious man with a grey pate. He reached out with his fat fingers to scold Naveen firmly. “You must rise early for a meeting with the Fitzgeralds.” 

“The Fitzgeralds?” squeaked Lottie. “Really? THE Fitzgeralds? As in Mr. and Mrs. F. Scott Fitzgerald? The literary light of Paris itself?!” She grabbed Naveen’s wrist so tightly that he grimaced through his flashing smile. “Tia, Tia! TIA! You have to meet them!!”

Tiana tried to recall Mr. Fitzgerald’s momentous achievements, but could only recall seeing copies of his novels displayed in the windows during her many sojourns through town and toward her job. The embarrassing truth was that she’d never taken the time to read the popular fiction; even the brief movie she’d seen with Lottie had been the sort of treat she’d never have indulged in were she at home in New Orleans.

“It’s to be heavily covered,” Zane said, his tone formal and rather rude. “You’ll be escorted from their suite and back to the hotel after a brief cocktail. No less, no more.”

Tia recognized the snobbery in Zane’s tone; it reminded her quite heavily of the way people had looked down on her and mama and even her dear papa for the way they’d lived, for becoming a part of the beautiful culture down by the waterline in their humble house, filled with dreams. Tiana would fight anyone who mocked her back then, and she wouldn’t let some stuffed shirt do the same thing to her now – even if he was a part of the royal household of her husband’s kingdom. Her back was up, her glare firm. “We’ll meet the Fitzgeralds whenever they want to come up and see us.”

“Princess…” began Zane, but she cut him off.

“We’ve spent half of our honeymoon with cameras in our faces,” she said firmly. “I really don’t want to spend the next two week doing the same thing all over again. The papers have their pictures for the morning edition, and I don’t owe them anything else. Now, I need a little bit of variety to keep my mind busy, and pouring tea for a bunch of snobs isn’t the only memory I want to have of Paris.”

“But…”

“We have tickets to the theatre later and they can photograph us there,” she said. “A set when we go into the theatre, and a set when we leave. But no more pictures after that.”

Zane sputtered and turned to Naveen. “Your majesty…”

“Ahh, Zane, my old friend - isn’t my wife’s word good enough for you?”

“Well…” he began. 

“Because it’s good enough for me. And what’s good enough for my wife is good enough for the kingdom. And if the kingdom wants heirs…” Naveen trailed off, his perpetually playful, friendly manner endlessly smoothing his pathway. “You want her to relax, right?”

“Er,” Zane cleared his throat. “Yes. Yes I do, but I don’t see why…”

“Mannnn,” drawled Naveen, “you know what happens if a lady isn’t in the mood,” he continued. “And if a lady isn’t in the mood, then love just fades away, like a moonlit sonata on a warm autumn night.” Tiana rolled her eyes, but Naveen chuckled and slapped his friend more firmly across the back. “Yes, if she doesn’t calm down, I’ll be spending my life on the couch. And if I spend my life on the couch, there will never be a little heir or heiress to the throne. So if you don’t allow my wife to do what she wishes to do, ahhh….” He stuck a hand into his pocket and shrugged. “Then we’ll have to let you go.”

Zane clutched his cravat. “Oh my.”

“You know what happened to my other assistant…”

“Oh yes!” he said speedily; everyone in the household was well aware of what had befallen the foolishly ambitious predecessor to his role. “Well, I’ll avoid disturbing you,” he said too cheerily.

“Darling,” Tiana said, sliding her arm through the loop of her husband’s elbow, “we’re wasting time.”

“So we are.” He held out his other arm. “Come on, Lottie,” he said, “let’s do this town up!”

Lottie laughed her pleasure, and Tia managed a little smile as they ducked down the street. She’d probably spend the whole night examining the interior of the club, trying to figure out how to apply what she learned to the Sugar Mill. For all of her business aspirations, her homesickness, she’d try to have fun – for Lottie and Naveen’s sakes.

*** 

And a good time was indeed had, though it passed by for Tia in a whirl of jazz, shimmying and champagne. By the time she slid into bed, three hours past the stroke of midnight, her bones ached pleasantly, and her muscles melted happily as she collapsed onto the mattress and prepared herself for the slow, easy slide into unconsciousness.

Naveen automatically snuggled up against her side. “Happy?”

“My feet aren’t,” she admitted. There really wasn’t any more to it than that – her body was burning like a witch tied to stake. 

“And it’s worth it,” he teased. “You danced like a butterfly tonight.”

“I was feeling the spirit,” she smiled against his chest. The light forest of hair decorating his pectorals rippled every time Tia breathed. Then she jokingly poked his ribs with the tip of her finger. “I needed something to do while you and Lottie were whooping it up.”

He chuckled. “With Lottie there is no such thing as whooping,” he replied. “She talks and you smile and listen.” 

Tiana laughed her own response. “I could see how much fun you were having, and you don’t have to lie about it. I’m not jealous,” she said lightly. 

“Well, Lottie is very lively.” Naveen found the word without a moment of hesitancy. “And she’s a lot of fun to talk with – you said so yourself.”

“Yep.” She yawned and stretched against Naveen’s form. “She is.” Her hand slipped downward. “But I’m not thinking of Lottie right now…”

Naveen’s wolfish grin forced Tia to smile back, and then there was a kiss, the sweet, brief press of lips to lips. Hands found hips and tongues found mouths, and soon both rolled across the smooth, warm sheets, lost to the rest of the world, attuned only to the tender embraces of one another. Like a couple of kids, they were so thoroughly lost that a far-off shriek and then the rapid patter of feet upon the stair didn’t penetrate their minds; they were both so lost in the private world they’d so recently created. 

But their isolated moment was soon shattered for, at the very moment Naveen’s clever tongue found its way toward Tiana’s soft, eagerly-waiting flesh the door to their bedchamber slammed open. In a flurry of pink ruffles, Lottie pitched herself onto the bed, wrapping herself around the body pillow that had once rested beneath their splayed knees. 

The two lovers sprung guiltily apart, then tried to shake Lottie’s grip from the bolster. “Sugar, what happened?” Tiana asked.

That seemed to snap the blonde out of her fear-induced trance. “TIA!” shrieked Lottie, barreling her friend backward onto the bed. “I was purse-snatched!” 

Naveen couldn’t stop himself from smiling, ever so slightly, even as Lottie dripped strings of mascara all over their wedding bed. “Is that was ladies are calling it nowadays?”

“Oh hush!” Lottie whapped his upper arm. “The two of you are making fun of me, and I was attacked!” she rested her begloved hands upon her throat. “They took my mamma’s locket AND they took my purse.”

“Did they hurt you?” Tia worried. 

“Oh no, they just grabbed my things and ran off into the night!” she shivered. “It was just awful! And he said to get out of Paris and stay out!”

Tiana and Naveen exchanged looks. “Did the man who attacked you happen to be balding and short?”

“Bless. My. Biscuits!” Lottie took a good long look into Tiana’s face. “Did being a lil’ old frog make you a psychic?” 

She was entirely sincere, and there was absolutely no way for Tia to get through this wit. “We think we know who it is.”

The very idea made Lottie gape. “But why would y’all be friend with a thief!?”

“He’s not a thief,” she sighed. “He’s just a really eager friend.”

“Who’s known me since I was small,” added Naveen. “Which makes him even more overprotective when it comes to royal journeys.” 

“You mean that awful little man who tried to stop us from going to the clubs tonight works for Naveen?!” She shrugged. “You need to be more careful about who you hire, honey.”

“For once,” Naveen declared, “it isn’t my fault. He’s my parent’s man.” Naveen rested his chin sleepily against Tiana’s shoulder. “And he’s going home on the quickest ship I can charter.”

“Good,” puffed Lottie. “Good Lord, where have people’s manners gone? I think they died when the War ended!” 

“Lottie! You never struck me as an old-fashioned girl.” Naveen remarked playfully.

“Man! Goes to show how well you know her,” replied Tia, her eyes alight with mischief. “She’s the one who keeps wishing on stars for Prince Charming to show up.”

“And you’re the one who found him,” Naveen said, giving her the most winning smile he could conjure up.

Tia chortled. “Listen to yourself snoring at three in the morning and then call yourself charming.”

“Three in the morning?” Lottie checked the tiny anniversary clock sitting upon the bedside table. “Rats, it’s almost three now!” She started gathering herself together. “It’s gonna take me an age to get to my room and get this makeup off!”

“I’m sure your eyelashes can wait,” Naveen suggested. Then, while Tiana helped Lottie get off the bed and righted her hat and suit coat, he spoke up. “On second thought,” he said, “it might be better for you to stay here. The more noise we make, the more likely Zane is to go snooping up on this floor.”

There was a tilt of blonde, merengue-light hair as she considered Naveen’s offer. “Are you sure?” Lottie’s eyebrow rose heavenward, her nose wrinkling in mild confusion. 

“It’s better than having your purse swiped,” he said, then yawned theatrically, looping an arm around Tiana’s neck. “There’s a suite right next to ours, right through those double doors.” Tiana pointed them out, 

Instantly, Lottie’s eyes grew bright, and she bobbed a quick, smart nod. “Oh, that’ll be just fine, honey!” she gathered up her hat and skirt. “I’ll be quite as a little bitty mouse! Y’all get back to what you were doing!”

“I don’t think that’ll happen,” Naveen said through his charming but very tight smile, forcing Tiana to muffle a laugh in the crook of her elbow. 

“Aww, don’t let my bugging you stop the party!” burbled Lottie, rushing to the doorway. When she hit the threshold, she turned on the tips of her pointed toes and frowned. “I wasn’t…bothering y’all while you were up to something important, was I?”

Tia shrugged and winced as Lottie’s cheeks began to turn a fetching shade of apple pink. Naveen gave her a shrug. “A gentleman never kisses and deflates.”

She flushed and dashed though the double-doors, carefully shutting them behind her with a definitive bang.

Tiana elbowed her husband right in the ribs. “Cool it with the teasing,” she said, trying to stop herself from breaking out into a gale of laughter. 

“Me?” he smirked. “I’m as pure as the driven slush, my dear.”

She harrumphed and elbowed him once again. “Don’t tease Lottie, she’s a nice girl.”

“And as I told you before,” he replied lightly, “I know she’s a nice girl.” 

Tiana rolled backward, under the warm safety of the covers, and Naveen had no choice but to follow along, his face weighing down her aching neck. “She’s really sheltered, darlin’. I don’t know how she managed to make it all the way to Paris without her daddy sniffing out her trail and dragging her home.”

“Then her daddy the sheltering sort?” Tia couldn’t fault him for the question – the two men hadn’t spent much time together during the wedding festivities. While Naveen questioned her he sprawled out along the mattress, absorbing space, trying to sprawl out along the emptiness and fill it with himself. 

“He’s protective.” Tiana felt Naveen’s warm breath against the back of her neck and shivered. “He tried to protect both of us – all of us – back when my dad died.”

“And he treats Lottie like she’s a Princess.”

“A princess who needs looking after,” said Tiana. Their eyes met warmly, sweetly, through the distance, and their fingers latched on to one another’s. Tia’s fingers gently squeezed Naveen’s. “Are you going to finish what you started?” she teased.

“Do you think I’ve woken up?” he replied airily, taking her prim little hand and then gently, but inexorably, shifted her hand downward, between his knees, his thighs. 

“The sap’s rising, all right,” Tiana replied, breathless, chuckling. Her fingers stayed where they were before stoking the hidden fires within him.

Sometime during the act, her mind drifted away, and latched onto the image of cotton candy blonde hair and pink lips. The mental image shocked her out of her joyful sexual lassitude for but a moment before it sharpened the sensation. 

Tiana was borne away by the tideflood of lust before she could properly parse out the images. All was sensation, all bliss – and all deadening , leaving her with nothing but the pleasant memory of being wanted.

 

*** 

The afternoon was bright blue outside her window, the sheets a pastel tangle underneath her when Tiana woke. As she came to realize where she was and how rude she’d inadvertently been to keep Lottie unentertained for hours, Tiana flung herself out of bed and tried to tame her morning hair and breath before whirling into the room in a comfortable, simple sundress. 

Within, she found her best friend and her husband, laughing loudly over an enormous pot of tea and a pile of syrup-coated waffles. No wonder Tiana had been yanked from her slumber; the two of them were hooting like a tourist during Mardi Gras.

Tiana paused in the doorway, crossing her arms over her chest. They were awfully cozy-looking, and sh said nothing until Naveen finish his anecdote – the one about the time he went spear-fishing on the coast of Majorca – notice Tiana, and doff his cap, bowing.

“Tia,” he said fondly.

“Oh, Tia!” squeaked Lottie, jumping to her feet. “I’ve been talking to Naveen and he’s been so encouraging! We have to talk, have to have to have to!”

Tia held up a palm. “Honey, I haven’t even had my morning joe…”

Naveen was before her in a wink, proffering a cup filled with black coffee and two tiny cubes of sugar. Tiana raised an eyebrow, and then plunked the sugar into the steaming brew before sitting beside Naveen on the sofa, crossing her legs delicately and taking a sip. 

“Naveen was just telling me that there’s the cutest little coffee shop a couple of streets away. I thought that if I get there early, they’d be glad to listen to me sing a little! Then I’ll get back all the money I lost last night!”

Tia nearly choked on her coffee. “Lottie, there’s a little problem with that?”

“…And then I’ll get one of those cute little sparkly dresses and…what?” Her nose wrinkled. “Whattya mean a problem?”

“You’re not a professional singer. And that’s just for starters.” Tia took another sip and wished fervently that she could drop a sip of brandy into the vessel. “Does Zane have your money?” She eyed her husband and wondered why Naveen hadn’t forced the servant to return the ill-gotten funds immediately. Had he been shipped home with Lottie’s funds as well?

Lottie shifted against the seat, trying to scare the words from her throat. “Well, I….” she frowned and started fiddling with her skirt. “I left New Orleans with ten dollars in my pocket. Your friend just took my Saint Christopher medal and my mamma’s pearl necklace.”

Tiana’s jaw fell to the floor. “But how did you…” She groaned, reached for the pot of coffee.

“Drink slowly,” Naveen encouraged playfully, and she shot him a foul glare.

“Well, I didn’t think I was gonna stay this long! I thought I’d just pop over and say hello and wave to the queen…” Tiana opened her mouth to correct Lottie, but groaned again and shut it fast against further complaint. “…And see how y’all were getting on, ‘cause Tia’s mom’s been so busy with the restaurant that she didn’t have time to write Tiana any letters…” Before Tiana could asked, Lottie opened the clutch purse resting at her hip and dumped out a small ream of hand-stamped letters. “So she wrote a bunch and gave them to me. Now, she did ask me to mail ‘em but I thought it’d be better to give them to you in person.” Lottie said, as if this were an eminently wise decision. Tiana took the letters and leafed through them while Lottie continued on. “So I thought I’d just pick up and head on down.”

“Then why don’t you ask you daddy for the money?” Tia wondered.

“Because he thinks I’m with my Aunt Eunice in San Francisco.” Tiana groaned. “Oh hush! This is the only time I’ve ever done anything wild in my whole life, and it’s blowing right up in my face.”

“You could always be a soda jerk,” Naveen suggested. “After all, there’s more than one way to skin a kitty.” 

Lottie’s nose crinkled again, but Tiana was ready to cut in this time. “Lottie’s never worked a day in her life,” said Tiana, but it wasn’t in an unkind tone. “She’s always had her daddy to take care of her. In fact, this is the very first time she’s ever struck out on her own.”

Naveen knew those troubles too well, and again doffed his hat. “Congratulations, mademoiselle.”

She accepted his compliment with every last ounce of polite coquetry it was due; even batted her lashes at him with a tiny grin tugging the corner of her lips. “ started thinking about singing. I’ve always liked it and it does pay pretty well, and I’d bet your bottom dollar that none of the people playing up on those marquees know the Prince and Princess…” Lottie winced as she admitted out loud that she wanted to use her friend’s fame to pave her way across the ocean. 

“There’s gotta be a simpler way,” declared Tiana. 

“I could sneak home in your trunks.” Lottie offered.

The mental image was enough to convince Tia to help Lottie in whichever way she could. “Partners,” she declared immediately. 

“Partners,” Lottie echoed happily, offering her hand for the circle.

Tia waited for her husband to express his disapproval, but when Naveen’s hand finally joined their gathered and mingled grip, he wore a megawatt grin.

And a joy buzzer strapped to his cupping palm.

*** 

Their routine settled into a comforting rhythm, one that involved juggling events, applying decorum, and trying to keep your cool under any and all circumstances. 

Lottie played Tia’s lady’s maid, walking with her through ornate gardens, and occasionally popping into and out of various exorbitant teas. They did indeed try to meet with the Fitzgeralds, only to be turned away by a bleary-looking woman with dark eyes who called them beastly for interrupting her twelve noon beauty nap. She and Naveen were true partners in frustration, and they tried to prop each other up through the sheer boredom of it all. They continued to sneak away at night to cabarets and poetry readings, usually with Lottie in tow – it was enough to draw comment from the chastened but unfirable Zane and finally force him to declare that Lottie should find herself an escort. Oftentime he found himself the fourth wheel in their conversation-filled, wine-loaded, dance-packed nights.

It impressed Tiana. She didn’t think Lottie and Naveen would take to each other so greatly, but they had done so, and were in fact closer than ever – and in a way that made Tiana completely envious of the two of them. 

Otherwise, Lottie became a fixated on her vocal lessons, Naveen took up golfing, and Tiana learned how to make pavlova. She’d attend auditions done up in a bobbed wig, then come home disappointed with a tear-stained face. Tiana wanted to tell her to forget it and simply let Naveen pay for her passage, but once Lottie got going she could be stubborn as Tiana – no one would pay her way, and nobody would ever be able to tell her father what she’d done on impulse. So Tiana allowed things to stay as they were, until Lottie spun into the parlor just two weeks later, a bottle of champagne in her hand and a spring in her step. 

“I have the job!” she squealed. “You’re looking at the main attraction at the Cordon Le Mou, AND I start tomorrow!” Tiana grinned and pitched her copy of the world’s news high in the air as she raced over to hug her best friend – the twosome whipped about in giggling, graceless circles as they shrieked their celebratory yarp.

Tia found herself cracking open the champagne and pouring a glass, and the three of them slowly grew happier and happier. And friendlier and friendlier. Naveen slid the bolt shut, and Tiana turned down the electric lamp, and Lottie pulled back the warm brocade sheets, and the three of them managed to swan their way toward the comfort of the warm, well-furnished bed.

And what happened there would be a happy secret held solemnly between the three of them for the rest of eternity.

*** 

Recrimination arrived for Tiana the following morning, alongside a pulse-throbbing, ear-splitting headache. Her body spasmed toward activity, thrashing away from the warm lumps tucked in beside her, fearing the meaning behind the tug echoing deep within her breast a she pulled her discarded slip on and up. There was little for her to do but consider the wreck she’d made of her closest friendships – to her marriage - with booze and heedlessness. 

A moment, a heartbeat later, she finally dared to cast her eyes upon them. Naveen had curled himself like a puff of smoke around Lottie’s torso, his head resting upon the back of his arm. Fleetingly, Tia thought that his hair never seemed to slip out of place, not even when they were making loud and strenuous love. He looked like a statue carved and chiseled out of semiprecious stone, the sunlight causing his skin to gleam like a jewel. If he felt any unrest pouring off of the memory of their actions, he didn’t show it – lost in his own world, he dreamed on, fingers arching absently against the upper curve of Lottie’s shoulder.

Lottie, too, bore the mark of her beauty. All ivory skin with pink blushes, the texture faintly creamy, her limbs sprawled casually out and her knees locked against Naveen’s hips. Her perfect hair had been ruined in her thrashing, and her eyeliner’s run down her cheeks in long lines of blue and black. Her deflowering had been painful enough to barely merit a mention; now she lay crumpled and sighing, occasionally landing a blow to Tia’s husband’s solar plexus. 

And even though all of this bounty belonged to her, Tiana still harbored fears over taking or touching it.

She had made a promise to Naveen to cleave to him, and it was one she took seriously, even though they’d added Lottie’s bounty to their union collectively, almost symbiotically. They had known one another for such a finite amount of time; hadn’t even passed a single birthday together before this Paris idyll. And this was Lottie’s first relationship, the very first time she ever touched a man, ever touched another woman. Tiana knew too well that the girl lived in a frothy bubble of elf-delusion, wishs and imagination. She’d spent all of her time dreaming about marrying a prince, being taken away to live happily ever after with some wonderful fella – and her first time was on a couch, sprawled across the sheets, with two friends who were rich in love and cash and anything she might want – but were stuck in an autocratic hierarchy. It wouldn’t do her any good to beat her head against the wall: what was done was done. And there was a wide difference between being sorry about what had happened and worrying about what had occurred.

None of these things sat comfortably within Tia’s ordered, practical, self-possessed mind. Not at all.

She bathed and left the room in a fresh dress without waking them, managing to avoid her detail and Zane’s questioning gaze. Out on the streets of Paris, the good people of the world were headed into work, the shops opening up, happy keepers popping their heads out to offer slices of bread and cups of chocolate to the young tourists slipping from their hotels. Locals had already claimed their own favorite spots; blue-painted doors set into stone buildings swung open, puffing bursts of bread-scented air out onto the corner. The scent of coffee flowed out over the deeper earthy scent of the bread, suggesting the early-morning peace of an elusive autumn afternoon. Churchbells rang in the distance, and sidewalk painters had begun to emerge into the light, setting up their oils and easels and rinsing their brushes, chairs and canvases pointed toward the Seine. Children played tag in the massive, lushly grassy park beside the hotel; she could hear them calling somewhere in the dew-dappled distance. A little girl in a blue and green checker-print dress skipped rope down the street, singing ‘My Boy Charlie’ at the top of her lungs in accented English. Cats sleepily blinked as she strolled by, and old men smiled from their tables, cards or chessboards settled beside mug of tea and a plate of croque monsieur. 

It was a beautiful world, and it didn’t have any time for Tiana’s self-pity.

She solved her agitation by locating the busiest restaurant in town and asking for a guided tour. The man in charge was thrilled to see her, passing Tiana off to his sous chef for the duty du jour. By the time she reached the end of the line, she’d learned more about plating technique and the way a high-stakes, busier-than-average kitchen worked than anticipated. A merry-faced chef hand her a knife and she found herself butterflying porkchops and taking pictures with staff members while wearing a blood-covered apron. The pictures were in all of the papers by the evening edition. Tiana laughed, smiled, toasted the assembled; she forgot all about the tangle of emotions and skin she’d left behind in her suite.  
And the world’s reporters were beside themselves with glee. They didn’t seem to know which was more important to report – the fact that a royal princess had lowered herself to spending time with the common rabble, or that she wasn’t sporting her wedding ring.

*** 

“Inexcusable!”

Zane paced the floor, throwing the paper upon it and then directly pacing over it as Tiana frowned at her lap, feeling Naveen beside her but not daring to meet his eyes. 

“Acting like a normal woman is inexcusable?” replied Naveen, utterly incredulous. 

“That might have been forgivable,” he replied. “But…LOOK at these! Just look!” he demanded. “Princess without a rock! Are Tiana and Naveen on the rocks? And, bluntly.” He slapped the page as he emphasized each word. “Where. Is. Her. Ring?” 

Tiana pointed to her left hand, where it currently resided. “I took it off to toss a salad,” she said quickly. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with trying to keep somebody from eating a thousand dollar ring.”

He reacted to her attitude by throwing up his hands and letting up a yawrp of total frustration. God preserve him from these people! 

“We haven’t broken up,” she continued. “I don’t think there should be a problem. Maybe we could just show up at a club together – Lottie’s opening is tonight! We could go there!”

“NO!” Zane shouted. “You’ve had enough public attention for one day. The two of you must stay in and I …” he dramatically clutched a hand to his heart, “shall begin writing a press release. The release to end all press releases!”

“Good…luck?” ventured Tiana cautiously. 

“Yes, and good luck avoiding the public for a full day. You’ll need it.” Zane huffed his disgust and left the room with a slamming of the back door. Tiana just shook her head and went about lying out her clothing for Lottie’s first concert. Even with her apprehensions and self-recriminations, she didn’t want to miss her best friend’s big performance. 

Naveen spoke up when she was in mid-strip. “You’re all right, petit?”

With one stocking off, she froze and turned her head. “I’m fine. Go grab a bath before we leave?”

The weight of the moment seemed to press down against Tia’s shoulders like an iron mantle. Now that they were alone in their quiet room, Naveen was more withdrawn than she’d ever seen him. And, apparently, more concerned for her than he’d been when they’d faced down the threat of death.

Then his smile regained its typically playful cast. “Maybe you’d like to talk about what happened last night?” 

She didn’t really want to. Tiana raised an eyebrow. “Did it change anything?”

“Yes,” he said definitively. “And I really think it changed things for you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I still love you, and I still love Lottie. We got a little out of control last night.”

“And you didn’t enjoy it? Not a moment?” 

Tiana knew better than to lie to him. “Of course. And you did too.” So had Lottie, from what Tiana could gauge using her very limited amount of experience. 

“And you enjoy her when there’s no bed in sight,” he added, insinuative still, merry still. She had no idea how he could be so casual; the entire world had quaked off its axis for her, and here he lay, smiling like a cobra. “I’ve never seen two girls act in such a sisterly way.”

“…I don’t think sisterly fits the bill for us nowadays,” she declared. 

“Yes,” he shook his head. “Sisterly definitely doesn’t cover it.” He sighed. “I like the way she laughs. You don’t meet a girl with that kind of common sense every year, either.” 

“It sounds like you’re in love with her.” An idle observation.

“In a way I am,” he admitted readily enough. “Not the way I love you, but in a way as deep.” 

“And not as sisterly?” He grinned. 

“And you feel the same way, don’t you?”

She didn’t hesitate to nod. “We’ve made a big ol’ mess, haven’t we?”

“But it’s not anything we can’t fix,” Naveen said. He watched Tiana fix her hair and adjust the shoulderpads in her dress. “We’ll go together, talk to her together.”

“How are we gonna get past your guards?” she wondered.

Naveen slipped toward the window, and then rolled up its hade. It was unbarred, led on to an iron fire escape, and would allow them both a quick and easy route to the ground below.

Tiana grinned, then rolled up her sleeves. Every other area of her life could be in an utter tumult, but she’d always instinctively know what to do when adventure presented itself.

***   
The club bustled, loaded with demi-monde and déclassé émigrés who had grown tired of the jaded players around them. They swarmed like maggots over an untreated wound whenever something ‘fresh’ and ‘smart’ opened in the city; they smelled of gin and fresh perfume and desperation, of sweat and of longing. Tiana heard their conversation as she passed by – one table openly discussed the affair of its only married member, another spoke of a fresh string of polo ponies they had inherited from their rich mother. She plowed through the tight packing and nudged Naveen toward an empty table.

“You keep it warm,” she said. “I’ll go find Lottie backstage.”

“I thought you wanted to do this together.”

“I did,” she admitted. “But now that I’d had a little time to think, it might be easier to do it all on my own.”

He kissed the back of her hand in sweet parting. “Bon voyage, petite.”

She kissed him by his ear on her way toward the stage door.

*** 

Lottie wasn’t hard to find: she was desperately trying to mop the sweat from the small of her back in a corner of the backstage area, unnoticed among the many acts prepared to take the stage. A bunch of poodles chased around her hoopskirt, and she made gentle, dissuading sound of displeasure while mopping away with her handkerchief.

“Let me help, honey,” Tiana demanded, reaching for the cloth. 

Lottie jumped and yelped, then managed to draw her features into a dark scowl. “Well, look what the cat dragged in.” The puppy by her ankle gave a frightened yelp, forcing Lottie to shoo it away gently. 

“No, Naveen dragged me,” she said merrily enough. “I’m sorry I left this morning without another word. I needed a little time to think.”

“Oh you and your thinkin’!” Lottie said, squaring her hips. “You’ve always been in love with ideas and things! But people?! With us, you’re all thumbs.” 

Tiana knew Lottie would be mad with her for walking out during such an important morning in her life, but she hadn’t been entirely prepared for her sudden passions. “I just admitted it wasn’t easy for me, honey. I don’t know what else I can do.”

“Nothing. What’s done is all done, and unless you’ve got a wand hidden on you somewhere we can’t go back,” said Lottie, pouting. “Naveen was really nice to me. We had a little chocolate, read the paper. It was just like we were a little old family.” Tiana’s stomach had just enough time to plummet toward her feet when Lottie added, “there was just one thing missing – and both of us know that that one thing was you.”

“I missed you too,” Tiana admitted. “That whole time where I was walking around all alone. Now everyone thinks me and Naveen are fighting.” 

“But does he think you’re fussing?” Tiana shook her head. “Then honey, why’re you worried?”

There was a shrug. “Everything’s starting to change,” she said. “I’m just about ready to open up my own restaurant, you’re getting ready to become a fancy little singer, and Naveen’s moving all the way across the ocean to live with me. It’s all humbling and scary.”

“Scary? THIS is scary?” Lottie gave her a nervous giggle. 

“You’re scared?”

At that she swallowed hard. “A little. This is the first time I’ve sung in front of a whole big group since we were part of the Twinkle Toe Tribe.”

At that, Tiana let out her own laugh. “I haven’t thought of that in a long time.” 

“I hope not!” Lottie shivered. “I was the only little girl in the whole troupe who couldn’t keep on her tippy-toes! I took one wrong step and I barreled right into the orchestra pit! I almost ruined my favorite dress!”

“Didn’t your daddy pay the whole orchestra to get new suits after that happened?” 

“And new cars,” Lottie added happily. “…What was my point again?”

“That you shouldn’t be afraid about the future?” Tiana offered.

“Yes!” Lottie frowned. “No! I was just telling you I was scared out of my socks!”

Tiana rubbed Lottie’s shoulders, carefully removing the last droplets of sweat from the back of her neck. “Don’t be scared, honey,” she encouraged. “If you ever feel too lost out there, why…why you just picture them all naked!” Lottie eeped and turned bright red; in spite of how well the previous night had gone there would apparently be a few 

“Oooh, thank you, Tia!” she turned and squeezed Tiana silly. “I’m gonna make my daddy proud and sing like nobody’s looking! You’re the best friend ever!”

“No, Lottie,” she said, then pecked her best friend on the lips. “The best lover you’ve ever had. And I do. I love you.”

Lottie grinned and squealed, then grabbed Tiana by the shoulders and dipped her backward. “Is that any way to give somebody that kinda news?!” She gave Tia a good, deep proper kiss, until her fellow cabaret acts were moved to stare, giggle, or deliberately look away.

Tiana pulled herself away from Lottie, grinning and gasping. She righted her clothing, then gave Lottie another peck on the cheek. “Good luck, honey!”

“I’ll need it,” Lottie sighed, turning toward the parted curtains. “Or maybe I won’t,” she amended, as the announcer called her name.

Tiana managed to get onto the dance floor, where she met Naveen with a smile. “Is everything fine?”

“Everything’s fine?”

“Did she have any…”

“No questions.” She took his hand and started to rock in rhythm to the band’s beat. “You know, our place is gonna need a double bed. I bet you two’d have fun shopping for it.”

Naveen froze then, stared at her then, but Tiana hadn’t gone so far just to lose him now. “Honey, just because we’re trying to find a brand-new beat doesn’t mean we can’t keep a few of the old steps.” She took his hand and placed it upon her waist – out of instinct, his fingers curved around the rise of her hips. 

Then Tiana felt the strong, warm kiss of his belly against hers and wrapped her arms easily around his neck. In the back of her mind she heard Lottie’s honeyed voice soothing the audience, pulling them closer like the moon drawing a wave to the shoreline. They moved in unconscious sympathy, hands and arms and feet and lips echoing the steps of one another, carefully miming the gestures and steps.

And when the milky stage lights finally guttered, and Lottie finally got her first check, the three of them linked arms. Naveen’s hand pressed to Tiana’s waist, Lottie’s fingers locked shyly with Tiana’s, and they walked in firm lockstep together toward the front door, and the bright lights promising them a wonderful future to compliment an enormously sweet but present. Whatever happened when they all crossed the ocean and went to work opening the Sugar Mill for good, they knew they’d be able to face it as a unit, a family, as a real and actual solid force. Together.

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfiction uses characters from **The Princess and The Frog** , all of whom are the property of **Disney**. No money was gained from the writing of this fanfiction and all are used under the strictures of of the Berne Convention.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Art for For The Very Young At Heart](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1041605) by [yue_ix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yue_ix/pseuds/yue_ix)




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